ABC Apple
by Akane Naomi
Summary: There was no way Ruki was going to let a stupid red fruit decide her destiny.


_**ABC Apple**_

"A…B…C…D…E…F…G…H…I…J…K…L…M…N…O…P…Q…R…S…T-" as the stem of the apple broke off after the letter T.

The brunette girl stared at the broken stem in her hand as her heart began to beat nervously, processing the possible names that would fit with what letter she had.

One of the girls in the group glanced from her assignment to see that Juri had stopped speaking and was now looking tense. "What are you so nervous about?" she asked casually while continuing her homework. Seriously, the only time this brunette should ever be nervous is if it was…well… something worth being nervous about.

"This stem broke off on the letter "T". Juri's voice quivered, unsure of whether she should be happy about it or upset.

"And?" her friend pressed on since that answer wasn't really helping the situation. "So it's a stem. A stem that stops on letter T. So what?" shrugging her shoulders to show that it wasn't a big deal.

"So?!" The brunette repeated with a shocked look on her face. "Izumi, have you ever heard of these things?!" as she waved the apple in front of her face. "They say that if you take an apple and twist the stem while saying the alphabet, the letter the stem breaks off on means that it's the person's name that you're destined to be with!"

"Ah." Izumi muttered and was now not in the mood to talk about this. The Valentine bug must've gone around making everyone crazy about this. How typical. "Juri you should know that it's some stupid love myth Kari was yapping about. It's not real". Her thumb pressed on the eraser to get more lead out of the mechanical pencil.

"If it's not real." She began. "Then why is it that when she did this, she ended up with T.K. in the end?" and crossed her arms and smiled. "Explain that!"

_Snap! _The lead on her pencil broke immediately after hearing those words. "Well…" as her eyes averted to hers. "It's obvious that they both liked each other for a while. It's just a mere coincidence that the day she did that apple myth was the day she got asked out".

"Izumi is right about that." Ruki added into the conversation. "It could've been a coincidence Juri."

Juri's head fell low in defeat by two of her friends. It's their fault that they weren't the type that liked to talk about boys, unless if it had to do with complaining about them or sports and projects. What happened to the season of love? A sigh slipped out before an idea came to mind "If it's a mere coincidence, then why don't you two try it?"

They both glanced at each other and towards Juri with confused looks. "What? No way."

A smile appeared on her lips. "I'm sure you both aren't afraid now are you?" hoping that this was going to go her way. She just had to get them to try, I mean, what's the fun celebrating Valentines' Day alone?

Ruki let out a scoff before getting up from her seat. "I'm not afraid of some stupid apple that thinks it can control my destiny". Her hand went out for the red fruit. "Just hand it over and let's get this over with".

"We could…only…". The brunette interrupted to show that the apples on the counter were all gone. "We have to go to the grocery store to buy more".

…………..

"This is stupid and a waste of time." Ruki kept complaining since they left the apartment buildings. They had only gone as far as two blocks and it seemed that she wasn't going to let the subject go.

Izumi sighed again, a habit of hers whenever she didn't know what to say. It was true, she wasn't the type that fell for guys or fall in love easily. She wasn't a Juri who got nervous around boys and be a normal girly girl, but she also wasn't a "heartless" and tomboy Ruki.

"We're here!" Juri excitedly announced to the two, presenting the large store in front of them.

"Finally." the other brunette grumbled and stormed right into the building before the two, and began searching for the aisle that held apples.

"I can see she's enthusiastic." her friend smiled again and walked right in after Ruki while dragging Izumi inside.

"Look." Ruki glared at the other brunette, an apple in her grasp, ready to demonstrate. "If I take two apples and they end up with different letters, that'll at least prove that this myth really isn't true".

They both nodded.

"Alright". She took hold of the stem and began to twist it slowly. "A-" and surprisingly, the apple's stem broke off immediately. "What the?" she cursed something quietly. "This apple must be old, it doesn't count". Taking another one, she took the stem and twisted it. "A-"

Both Izumi and Juri were surprised with the letter Ruki ended up with, but somehow it was just something they couldn't help but giggle about.

After taking a couple more of the same fruit, the brunette tomboy was getting nothing but the same letter over and over again. "The apples here are stupid!" she announced and took the one that was currently in her hand and smashed it on the floor.

"Excuse me miss, but you're going to have to pay for those." one of the employees pointed out. The threesome looked over to the person who was speaking, and found instead, a boy around their age. For such an odd reason, he wasn't angry, more amused.

"I'll pay for them when the apples decide not to be stupid!" Ruki shot back in return, even more irritated that the boy was laughing at her.

He turned to her friends. "She a comedian?"

Suddenly out of nowhere, he was held by the collar and slammed into the wall by the girl. "Listen you…" she glared with a threatening look.

Still unfazed by her behavior, he remained calm. "Hm, a feisty Wildcat".

"What did you call me?!"

"You know…" The boy started noticing that she was still threatening to hurt him. "I wouldn't start beating up the store owner's son out of nowhere for no apparent reason". Seeing her expression, she kept on the glare and let go of him. "I'm only letting you go because I felt like it and not because you're the prestigious son of a company".

He let out a chuckle for that remark. "Trying to keep her cool personality". he noted. They both stood there in silence, and at the same time, they slowly glanced up to look at each other.

Breaking the silence, Ruki asked. "Does your name start with the letter A by any chance?"

"Huh?" He thought aloud wondering what brought up such a random topic. "Maybe this is just her way of talking to people", he shrugged and shook his head no. "It's Ryo actually."

She sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!"

"Do you know how relieved I am to hear that?" Izumi grinned as Ruki nodded both of them knowing that the myth wasn't real after all.

Juri in fact was the only one with a disappointed reaction. "Aw, but that doesn't prove anything yet! We don't know for sure if it's really a fake".

"Ah, are you going to bet on it?" Ruki asked cockily getting ready for a challenge as she always did before whenever someone brought it up.

Juri paused, and began to smile, she would've been the kind to back down, but since she started befriending Takato, he happened to help her self-confidence up. "Yep." she declared. "If it's true, then you have to go on a date with him on Valentines' Day with the rest of our friends".

Like that was something the heartbreaker was going to imagine herself doing. "You're on!"

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Izumi thought inside her mind, shaking her head with the silly challenge and followed the two out of the store.

"Hey wait!" Ryo called out to them, but they were already gone. He exhaled slowly. "She was supposed to pay for the apples." he muttered to himself. Well, maybe when he would see her again, he would remind her. A laugh escaped from him after thinking of that. Out of all the girls in Shinjuku, heck out of all of the girls in Japan, or even in the whole world, there would be no way that he could find her again. Only luck would have the power to do that.

………..

"Ugh, imagine that! If that guy's name really did start with the letter A!" Ruki sputtered out after leaving the store. "I mean I can't imagine myself being in the same room with him."

Since they reached Juri's household, they were still on the topic with what had happened in the store. If anyone had the guts to point out something to Ruki, it looked like she was in love with Ryo.

"Haha, but it was funny." Juri giggled, the scene etched into her mind repeating over and over again. "But it's a bit too bad Izumi didn't get to try."

The blond looked up from her homework that she was scanning over. "I really didn't mind", half lying to them. "Besides, I could always try it when I get home…"

"What did you say?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing", as a small smile magically appeared on her face with a happy expression. She should read more of these love myths, not only were they funny in a way, but it wouldn't be bad to try it out just for fun.

………

"He's here". Ruki gazed in disbelief at the new student in class. Yes, it was him. The same boy from yesterday. Ryo.

"Ah, d-don't worry, I'm sure Ryo uh…I mean it's not like he's gonna recognize you". The younger brunette tried to cheer the situation but without a response back from her, she laughed nervously.

The brown haired boy spun around right after Juri's sentence, and waved towards their group with a smile.

"Not recognize me?" The ice queen repeated, eyeing both of them.

A nervous sweat drop appeared on the brunette. "Er, well…" as she closed her eyes to think of a good idea. "At least he isn't going to be sitting next to you".

As if the heavens were playing a joke on her. "Ryo, you'll be sitting over there behind Ruki in that row. Ruki, raise your hand." Their teacher ordered, pointing to the small group at the back corner of the classroom.

A vein could be seen on Ruki, seeing that she was definitely going to hate today. "Juri…" as she continued to stare at her "fascinating" school desk, all plain and simple. "Great, now not only does Hero-boy recognize me, but this means I have to be stuck next to him for the next semester…" she thought irritably.

"Y-Yes?"

Her arms were crossed, as she sighed heavily. "Don't say anything today". If that girl were to speak more, and if her predictions "happen" to actually come true, well…that plan will have to come to mind. Eventually.

"Hey Wildcat!" he waved.

Her ears perked at that. "What?!" as her eyes immediately went back to the same glare she had kept on since he stepped into the room.

His arm slowly went down from waving towards her. "Pumpkin? Ruki? I don't know! Which do you prefer?"

"I prefer MAKINO thank you".

He stood there watching her sitting at her desk trying to avoid [insert ignore him. He shrugged his shoulders. "This one is going to be hard to get through". He glanced at the board of the school schedule to see that the upcoming subject was English.

"Ah, Ruki", the teacher spoke again, looking over to their seats. "You wouldn't mind pairing up with the new student and sharing your English notes for him to keep up with, would you?" and without waiting for a response, the teacher simply smiled and wrote the homework on the board.

Quiet silence between the two.

[Insert sigh here by Ruki

[Insert blank look here by Ryo

"Might as well get this over with", sighed Ruki as she gathered her English dictionary and notes all together. Taking a chair beside her, her hand motioned him to sit. "All you have to do is look up all these words in this dictionary".

He casually sat in the chair beside her and thought of a plan. "I don't understand these words".

"Stupid boy trying to play dumb…", the brunette thought with annoyance, and refused to fall for the trick. She folded her arms and stared at her own notes. "Do it yourself".

And he wasn't going to give up either. "Ah, but I'm a "new" student remember?"

"Yes, you are and maybe you should find a "new" person to annoy", she shot back.

"But the teacher is "counting on you" and you wouldn't want to make her think that you were the type to give up easily now would you?" he stated sweetly, seeing that she was getting even more annoyed.

Her eyes glanced at the board for the vocabulary words of the day. To her dismay, since it was Valentines' Day, unfortunately for her, they happened to be words about the season of love. "Ugh, fine", utterly giving up, but spoke up quickly after that comment. "But we're going to go through this lesson fast".

"Fine by me". He agreed and smiled taking the dictionary and looking at her. "Well, it seems like the first word is "kindness".

"Yeah, just look up for the meaning in the dictionary and create a sentence as an example of it". She explained, hopefully wishing that this wouldn't start up another long conversation, wasting even more of her time.

To her surprise, he kept quiet the whole time and by the time it was the end of class, he left the paper on her desk. "Finished". He winked and chuckled before leaving his seat and following the other boys to the next class.

"NOW what did he write?" she thought, taking the paper in her grasp as she scanned over the words he had written.

_Kindness: ability to behave kindly._

'I have so much kindness, I'm still waiting for Ruki's money to pay for the apples.' He wrote as if he was indicating something.

_Patience: capacity for waiting._

'I wonder how long Ruki's patience takes?'

[Insert Ruki death glare here

_Love: To like something or SOMEONE very much._

'I would love to see Ruki's reaction when she reads this.'

_Crush!_ Her hand was now crumpling the paper as she ran out of the classroom with the one goal in her mind to slaughter the owner of the paper. "Ryo!" she practically exclaimed and just when he turned around to face her, she threw the crumpled rolled into a ball like paper into his face.

He caught the paper easily with his left hand. "What was that for?"

"Don't play dumb, you know very well what you did!" She glared again trying to attempt punches at him, but he seemed to have good defense since he wasn't hit at all.

Dodging from another attack, "Can't we talk it over normally?" he suggested.

"Well," she paused "According to my point of view, "this" is a normal conversation!"

"You know" as he took ahold of her hands to keep them from attacking him, "There's a thing called being "nice".

"Nice isn't in my vocabulary!"

He let out a small laugh, "Well that's what we call "learning" comes in".

"Are you only here because I didn't pay for that stupid red fruit the other day?" She questioned immediately getting to the point. Since that time when they both met, he had been everywhere she would be.

Ryo pulled out a magazine titled "Kawaii!" and began flipping through the pages until he found the page. "Do you guys actually believe in this stuff?"

The brunette took a closer look at the page as her eyes widened in horror to what the information was all about. "So that's where Kari got that idea from!" she thought and remembered Juri holding the exact same copy from that day. "No, of course not!"

"Oh sure", he said cockily as if he believed her. "That's probably not the reason why you wasted all those red apples now is it?"

About to make another comeback to that, her mouth opened, but no words came out. She hesitated to answer to that. Yes, it was true that she really didn't believe in that love junk, but then what would her reason be for "that"?

He tugged the strands of her hair. "See? You don't even know the real reason behind it".

"So?"

"So…that means you believe in that kind of stuff".

Ruki's body twitched at that answer. "Ryo…"

"Yes?"

………………….

"Ah! That's so romantic!" Juri replied with dreamy eyes, imagining a totally different scene with a totally different version of Ruki being a nice shy girl talking to a cute boy.

She looked away with a not-you-too look. "Stupid girl". If she called Girl beating up Boy romantic, then she must crazy.

Her friend smiled knowing how much this was irritating her. "Ne ne, did you know that the school is having Valentine roses? You buy them and they send it to the person you want to give it to".

Great, if she were to choose between talking about Ryo and the stupid red fruit or stupid red roses it would be… the stupid red fruit. At least that had less mushy gushy love info and was naturally sweet. "I'm guessing you were planning on buying one for Takato?" No, she wasn't guessing, she knew just like everyone else. It was written all over her face.

A tint of red appeared on Juri's face. "W-Well, maybe as a friend you know?" along with a nervous laugh to change the subject. "A-Anyways, aren't you looking forward to getting one?"

"No". She laid her head upon her arms to rest on the table. "Not like I care anyways."

"Aw, you're no fun", she pouted.

……………..

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ruki asked with a mere confused look but it didn't show. She stared at the rose on her desk. Yes, just like all the other students, they received roses from their special someone, but hers was well…dead …looking.

"Ruki!" Juri sang as she walked into the classroom to see her friend's blank expression and the dead flowers on her desk. "Er…"

"This is me without you. From, A". The tomboy read the small card that went along with the flowers. "A…" she thought. It was a possibility that it could've been Ryo, because that was the first person that came to mind when she first saw the flowers, but there was another possibility that it could've been someone else. Either way, it came to the conclusion that it was just a prank.

"From, A?" Her friend repeated, reading over her shoulder. "Ruki! This could be the person you're destined to be with, just like that apple foretold!" she happily announced, clapping her hands together.

"Or it could be someone cough Ryo cough who is just playing around with the idea". Ruki mumbled.

"Did you say something?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing". At least nothing Valentine-y was going to happen to her today after this.

But boy was she wrong.

"Look! It's from the mysterious A again!" Juri happily once again announced holding the small card out in front of her face.

Ruki blinked and pushed her hand aside from flailing around in front of her face. "Take destiny for a spin". She read aloud and noticed the apple right beside it. Her expression suddenly went to gloomy. "Ryo…" she thought thinking of ways of how to take revenge on mocking her like this.

"Aren't you going to try "taking destiny for a spin"?" Juri asked.

She glared at Juri. "We know very well what happens. It always breaks off at the letter A". Her hand took the apple and instead of crushing it, she threw it out the window.

"Ow!" they both heard from below.

"What was that?" Juri wondered aloud worriedly.

Ruki scoffed. "Probably some idiot".

"Hey you two". The boy called out to them, as he stopped to catch his breath. "Have you guys seen Akiyama around?" Throwing his soccer ball and catching it in the air, he continued. "He was supposed to fill in for our soccer game today, and…in fact", as he stopped playing with the round object. "He's been acting weird all day today".

Both females gave no concern, but more of odd glances.

He stared back at them with the same glance.

"Who?" they asked in unison.

"Akiyama." he repeated again, still receiving the same look. "You know, A-KI-YA-MA". and added. "That new kid".

"Oh you mean Ryo?" Juri answered just when a light bulb began to brighten up.

He slapped his forehead for a moment and sighed. "Yes! That Ryo **A**kiyama."

"Akiyama?" The brunette questioned aloud, and looked at Ruki who mirrored the same expression. "Aki..yama? **A**kiyama…" Juri again said, and suddenly started backing away slowly. "I swear Ruki, I had no idea that his name was…", too speechless to finish her sentence.

Takato looked at both of them with disbelieving looks. "What? You both didn't know his name was Akiyama? So what's the big deal about it?"

Ruki stood still, taking in all the new information through her mind. "_His name starts with the letter A!"_, she saw Juri mouth to her, and …

"No way…" Ruki thought thinking all of this over. "His name "does" start with the letter A. You mean…I'm stuck with that AKIYAMA?!" as the two covered their ears from her loud outburst.

"Wow! Ruki, are you okay?" Takato remarked, this was one of the odd times when he would see a girl like her act this way.

"S-She's fine, I think she has a fever, you know, uh a bug is coming around" Juri covered up and faked a couple of coughs. "I think I've caught it too", and before the boy could say anything back, the two disappeared down the hallway to the infirmary.

…….

"I can't believe…all this time!" Ruki let out once they reached a vacant room in the nurse's office. "You mean, I'm stuck with that idiot?"

Juri of course could do nothing but give her a reassuring smile.

"Out of all the boys in the world, it had to be Akiyama…"

Her friend gave a comforting smile. "Well, maybe you "are" destined to be with him, but maybe if he tried the same thing he might end up with someone else?"

Lightbulb. "That's not a bad idea." Ruki thought. If Ryo were to get a letter that wasn't R for Ruki or M for Makino, then it wouldn't be true. "I got it!"

"What? Tell me, tell me!"

"First. I'm going to need that red stupid fruit".

"Oh you mean apples?"

………………….

By the end of the school day, just when Ryo was about to walk home, he noticed that upon his doorstep was a basket of fresh new apples to replace the ones Ruki had ruined that day before. He laughed to himself. He really didn't need her to pay him back, it was just an excuse to talk to her. Only she didn't need to know that part.

What made him laugh even more was the note that he wrote for her which was now back in the basket. "Take destiny for a spin". He let the wind blow the piece of paper fly from his fingers as he walked inside the house.

No matter what that apple would say, he was going to be in charge of his own destiny.

The brunette watched from the outside of the Akiyama household gates and rolled her eyes at his reaction to the present. She had to admit, half of the time, he was fun to hang around with, but other than that…

_There was no way that a stupid red fruit was going to be in charge of her destiny._


End file.
